The Environment and Me

I live in a country where the environment is of little concern to the majority of it’s people. I think one of the reasons for this is that most people here are just trying to survive, on the littlest amount of money possible – so if something is cheap, that’s what they will use, no matter how bad for the environment it is. Or if they can make more money by using certain products, no matter what cost to the environment, they will. There are so many examples of this across China, it’s utterly amazing to me. Illegal factories, overuse of pesticides and fertilizers, the use of banned products in production of wood are just a few small examples. Seeing the horrible Beijing pollution firsthand and hearing all of the horrible stories of how the pollution across China has affected people here, has made me very aware of what we, as people, are doing to the environment.

In light of this, I am making a conscious effort to help our planet, to contribute to being more “green”. This can be quite hard and often overwhelming here in China, where I can’t read or speak the language fluently. Here are a few ways I have started trying to make a dent:

1. Use cloth diapers for the kids – Ryken is in cloth about 90% of the time and the girls both are using cloth “pull-ups” for night time.

2. Air-drying as many clothes as possible. With the pollution and the amount of sand blowing around in Beijing, this can be quite difficult to do – so often I hang wet clothes up inside to air dry them. When it is clear and sunny out, it’s a nice day to do laundry and have clothes air dry.

3. Use fewer paper towels – when we first arrived in Beijing, I often wished for a Costco or Sams Club, where I could buy things in bulk, like paper towels. We would go through a roll of paper towels in just a few days. I eventually realized that we don’t NEED paper towels.

4. Look for environmentally friendly products – this is the most difficult part to do here. The government has started to “certify” certain products with a little green label when they decide something is environmentally good. The problem with this is that everything is in Chinese and I often don’t trust this little label – things here are often fake in order to make more money, so it’s difficult for me to trust if something is truly what it is intended to be. So, for now, although this costs me more money, I buy things imported from other countries that are labeled in English, with ingredients I can read. These include cleaning products, laundry detergent and food.

5. Eat organic food – This is also quite difficult here. Luckily, it is becoming easier. There is a company that has started delivering organic vegetables, fruits and grains – I can place orders 2 times a week and it is delivered to the house. Yes, it is more expensive, but in a country where in ground pollution is rampant, it is so important to me to have a reliable source of produce that is organic. I attended a seminar on the “organic movement” here in China. The difficulty of going organic is the amount of time involved and that little money is made by farmers who do go organic. I’ve heard stories of farmers who have certified their land as organic – then at night, when no one is looking, they go out and spray fertilizer and pesticide on their land in order to ensure a good crop, with good looking fruit/vegetables. Farmers and distributors will get fake organic labels made up and stick them on their produce so that people think it’s organic when really it isn’t. I completely understand the whole idea of “knowing your local farmers”.

I am definitely not someone who can say they do everything they can to help the environment. I am trying to do my best for now and research things and continue to improve how I live everyday and how I impact the rest of the world. I still use a vehicle more often than I would like. One of the things I am looking forward to in Shanghai is living within walking distance of stores and schools, at least that is our goal.

I would challenge each of you to think more about the environment, think more about your impact on the world.